Separating metal from deposits.



No. 865,711. PATENTBD SEPT. 1o, 1907.

y I. KITSBB. SEPARATING MBTALPROM DEPOSITS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 20. 1907.

z SHEETS-sum1.

WITNESSES: I N VEN TOR.

PATENIED SEP'I. .10, 1907.

I. KITSEE. SBPARATING METAL FROM DBPOSITS.

APPLICATION FILED .TUNE 20. 1907.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

WSE'

UNITED STATES PATENT oEEroE.

rsrDoR K ITsEE, or PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

SEPARATING rm'rAL FROM DEPosr'rs.

N0.'s65,711. l

Specication of Letters Patent.

y Patented Sept. 1.0, 1907.

Applicants nea June 2o, 1907. serial No. 379,912.

To all whom it 'may concer'n:

Be it known that I, IsrDoR KrrsEE, a citizen of th United States,residing at `Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State ofPennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inSepato separate such metals in an eflicient and vsimple manner.-

My invention is applicable to different kinds oi metals, but its greatvalue is apparent in separating precious metal from its ore.

To separate iron from ore or sand, the material carrying the iron iscarried in the region of magnetic or electro-magnetic devices, and theiron particles are caused to be deflected by magnetic force. To separatesuch metal, as is not paramagnetic,it was thought possible to presentone pole of a circuit carrying a high electro-motive force to thematerial carrying such metal and it was even suggested to produce asparkless arc between two points of such circuit and carry the materialthrough said arc, thereby defiecting such material from thenon-conductor carrying the,v same. Both of 4 these suggestions provedunsatisfactory, so also was the suggestion, to make use of the repellingforce between 'a charged conductor and the mixture containing conductingparticles, abandoned. A

In my experiments, I have found that if one electrode of a high tensioncurrent (electro-magnetic or static) is presented to finely dividedmetallic bodies, intermixed with non-conductors, the metallic particlesare first attracted and then repelled ltrom this electrode. The actionis easily understood. As longl as the particles of metal are at zero,they are attracted, but as soon as they have acquired the potential ofthe electrode, they are repelled, v This repelling action prevents theemployment of the electrode, for the purpose of separating the metalfrom its deposit. WhenV two electrodes of a high inductive current areseparated by an air space and the material carrying the metallicparticles is carried through saidair space, a

motionindependent of the motion due to gravityis induced in the metallicparticles. This motion may.'

carry the same a certain distance away from the nonconductingdeposit7but yet is not sufficient to separate the metal from the ore or und, andafter careful examination, such method had to be abandoned by me. In thefurther course of experiments,l I find that if both electrodes of such acircuit are placed in prox imity to eachother and on a non-conductingbody,

.the metallic particles will remain between the two electrodes Thereason, therefore, is that each particle .is charged positively andnegatively-in succession. But the great disadvantage arises, that inoverbridging the space between thetwo electrodes, arcing and sparkingcannot be avoided, and in my experiments, often happened that themetallic particles were welded on, so to speak, and could hardly betaken off with the aid of a scraping tool. The further disad- `vantageis, that when the electrodes are firmly connected to each other throughone or the other ofy the particles-being welded thereon, their use wasentirely gone. To obviate this difliculty, I had recourse to anarrangement whereby both electrodes were embedded in a non-conductingmaterial and where the ore or sand carrying the metallic particles, Awasbrought in con.

tact with the non-conducting surface of the embedded electrodes. Thisarrangement proved satisfactory and I was enabled to extract from sand,particles of metal, which could not have been extracted otherwise, thanwith the aid of a chemical liquid. i i

As it is necessary for me to provide means, so that persons versed inthe art may carry out my invention, I have lillustrated vthe same in theaccompanying drawing in two different forms, but it is obvious that themechanical arrangement of the devices may differ without departing fromthe scope of my invention.

- In the drawing, Figure I is a plan view of one of the devicesembodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a sectional view of an apparatusshowing my invention in operation. Fig. 3 is a front elevation-and Fig.4 a side elevation of an apparatus in modified form.

1 is the device as an entirety comprising the two electrodes 2 and 3 andthe non-conductor 4. I have found, that wires embedded in a glass plateanswer practically the purpose most satisfactory and I have illustratedthis method of accomplishing my object in Fig.' l. It will be noted thatin Fig.- l, one`of the electrodes is carried out of the insulatingmaterial at one 'end and the second ofthe electrodes is carried outofthe insulating material at the opposite endl This for the purpose,that the terminals of .the electrodes shall not be in too closeproximity to 'each other.

In Fig. 2,5 is the material to be treated. In this figure, I made use ofa series of devices, such as shown in Fig. 1, and I call each of saiddevices one unit. Fig. 2, therefore, comprises three units; but it isobvious that any number of units may be placed in a manner, so that thematerial to be operated on should pass over two, three, or more of theseunits.

In Fig.l 3 and 4 the apparatus ,comprises a series of such unitssupported by a frame in the shape of a drum, journaled at 7, andprovided ywith the means 8 to rotate the same with the aid of anelectric, or any -other mechanical motor. l

The drum is supposed to be rotated in the direction of the arrow. Thematerial 5 to be treated is carried overpart of the surface of said drumand the metallic particles, intermixedA with said material, adhere tothe surface and are carried to the inclosure 18, where they are brushedoff with means, such as are sldwn here and designated by the numeral 16.I have also designated the separated metal by the numeral 15 and thenonconducting material, minus the metal, by the numeral 14. It has to benoted here, that only parts of the units, with which the drum issurfaced, are at one and the same time in contact with the currentcarrying circuit. This for the reason, that when these units havereached the inclosure Where it is desired to collect the metallicparticles from ,the surface, the strong adherence between the particlesand surfaceshould be broken.

The device is provided with the vcomrnutator 10, so as to carry out theidea of alternately placing alternate sections in contact and out ofcontact with the circuit carrying the current.

In Figs. 3 and 4, I have designated the device as an entirety by thenumeral 6.

I Having now described (my invention, what I claim as ne`w and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is:-

1. The method of separating particles of metal from natural deposits,which consists in carrying the mixture of metallic particles and naturaldeposits over surface of a non-conducting material having embeddedtherein both electrodes of a high tensioncircuit.

2. The process of separating conducting particles from non-conductingparticles, consisting in passing a stream of the coinmingled` particlesintermediately of and in proximity to high tension electrodes ofopposite sign; protecting said particles from acquired charges, wherebythe conducting particles are detained and the non-conducting particlesare discharged, and subsequently freeing and collecting the conductingparticles..

I. The method of separating,T conducting particles from non-conductingparticles, which consists in carrying the mixture containing bothparticles over the nonconducting surface of high tension electrodes ofopposite sign, whereby the conducting particles remain attached to saidnon-conducting surface, allowing the non-conductingr particles toseparate by gravity.

4.' Means to separate metals from non-conducting ma terialpsaid meanscomprising two electrodes of opposite signs in proximity to each other,said electrodes insulated from each other and means to carry saidmaterial over the insulation of said electrodes.

5. Means to separate conductors from non-conductors, said meanscomprising two electrodes connected to a circuit carrying` a hightension current, said electrodes sepa rated from each other, anon-conducting covering for the surface of said electrodes and means tocarry the mixture of conductors and non-conductors over said non-conducting covering` (i, The method, which consistsin causing the separation ofnon-conducting from conducting bodies through'th'e static action of twoelectrodes connected to a high te'nsion current on the conductingbodies, thereby causing said vbodies torenialn positioned between saidtwo elec-- .trodes. y

In testimony whereof I aflix' my signature in presence of two witnesses.f

isIDoR Kr'rsnn. i

Witnesses:

MARY C.SMx'rH, EDITH R. STILLEY.

